| "I haven't seen my grandchildren for three years...and | | | | came to, distressed over it years ago. |
| a third has arrived whom we've (my husband and I) | | | | What often happens in this scenario is that the |
| never met," said a distraught woman. | | | | abusive son-in-law will do whatever is necessary to |
| Convinced that her adult child is in an abusive | | | | prevent his entrapped partner from running back to |
| relationship, she fears for her daughter's life and the | | | | her parents. He'll brainwash her into believing that her |
| lives of her grandchildren. | | | | parents aren't good for her. He will convince his |
| With this kind of fear under normal circumstances, | | | | partner either openly, or indirectly, that her parents |
| she would have busted in to assist her endangered | | | | will interfere with and ruin their lives. |
| child. Yet with this, she has not. | | | | Again, how do we get her to see the light? |
| She says, "I feel powerless to penetrate the barrier | | | | So obviously, now the job of getting the abused |
| of distance he fostered isolating our child from us and | | | | daughter has magnified manifold. And you're still |
| all of her childhood friends." | | | | asking the question, how do we get to her to see |
| What can a parent do under these circumstances? | | | | the light? |
| Strategically plan for the safety of your child and | | | | If you recognize yourself in this predicament, seek to |
| grandchildren. And find a way to guide her into | | | | understand the dynamics of abusive relationships. |
| opening up to the plan. | | | | Learn as much as you can and become as proactive |
| Now your first thought, as you're reading this, is how | | | | as is possible before the insidious syndrome of |
| will we ever get her to see the light? She is in denial | | | | domestic violence spirals out of control. |
| over his abuse even though I am the person she | | | | |